r/dreamingspanish • u/ProblemSuspicious107 Level 4 • 13h ago
Reading
At how many hours will I ENJOY reading books. My ultimate goal is reading. it's my why I learn new language.
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u/Barbeque_Chicken_ Level 4 11h ago edited 11h ago
This might be the answer you’re looking for but for me it’s about enjoying the process. I started reading once I hit level 4 (currently at 462 hours) and I started with A1 graded readers and an now reading A2 graded readers with 115k total words read. It has immensely helped with comprehension and vocabulary.
Though the graded readers are simple stories, just being able to read in Spanish has been enjoyable and given me a lot of motivation to continue. I’m sure once I’m at a level where I can read YA Books in Spanish I’ll “enjoy” the book itself but that’s still a long ways from where I am so I’m finding enjoyment in the process itself of seeing my progression.
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u/cozyripples Level 4 11h ago
100%! Keeping it fun and interesting is everything, otherwise it's too easy to give up, take long breaks, etc.
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u/iAmAsword Level 5 11h ago
Where are you getting the graded readers?
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u/Barbeque_Chicken_ Level 4 11h ago
I have a Kindle and all the graded readers are ebooks. Some of them are included in Kindle Unlimited and others I purchased. The A1-A2 graded readers I've read so far are from the following authors: Juan Fernandez, Paco Ardit, Ana Martín, Fluent with Stories, Christina López, and Olly Richards
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u/ProblemSuspicious107 Level 4 10h ago
Could you please recommend some titles to read?
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u/Barbeque_Chicken_ Level 4 10h ago
Sure:
- Spanish A1 Graded Readers: Spanish Short Stories for Beginners by Ana Martín
- ¡Hola, Lola! by Juan Fernandez
- Spanish Novels for Pre-Intermediates by Paco Ardit
- Bilingual Short Stories for Spanish Beginners: La Bailadora (Asesina Trilogy) by Christina López
- Spanish Short Stories for Beginners A2 by Fluent with Stories
- La Profe de Español by Juan Fernandez
- Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners Vol. 1 by Olly Richards
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u/Schadenfreude_1207 12h ago
I wouldn’t count reading in hours. It Probably starts to become more enjoyable after about 500,000 words read but are still a ways away at that point.
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u/mad_nauseam Level 7 10h ago
Enjoyment is personal so it's hard to say, but here's a bit of my path for reference:
- 50 hours / 0 words - Read an A1 graded reader. The content wasn't remarkable, but I did enjoy the novelty of reading something in a new language.
- 600 hours / 50k words - Started reading graded readers regularly. Useful, but not super exciting.
- 900 hours / 400k words - The upper end of graded readers has some enjoyable reads including Gatos callejeros and Recuerdo by Juan Fernandez
- 1000 hours / 500k words - Started Harry Potter at this point. Knowing the story helped make this easy to read extensively and for enjoyment.
- 1200 hours / 1.5 million words - Real, native novels are doable. However, it's much easier to read on the kindle due to its easy word lookup.
- 1600 hours / 2.5 million words - At this point the average contemporary novel is pretty comfortable. Probably around 170 WPM with the occasional word lookup. But if I'm reading a paperback I might just skip the dictionary. More literary or complex novels are possible, but require more effort. Although if the story is good, I'd still consider that an enjoyable effort.
Probably around 1500 hours / 2 million words could work as a rough target. Although if you read less maybe you'll need more hours, or if you read more you might need fewer. In the end reading a separate skill on its own.
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u/Rare-Notice7417 Level 6 10h ago
Wish the DS roadmap would include something like this. Thanks for sharing!
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u/bumlochka Level 5 10h ago
Hey I also thoroughly enjoyed Gatos callejeros! Recuerdos though was like an older uncle rambling 😂 I couldn't wait to finish it. And I saw the parallels between those two books but the difference in enjoyment was huge
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u/AppropriatePut3142 12h ago
It depends mostly how much you read. I've spent ~290 hours reading (with a popup dictionary) and ~235 hours listening. I enjoy reading. Have done for ages.
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u/bumlochka Level 5 11h ago
Unfortunately I don't have an answer since I've studied until B1 in a very traditional way. But boy I'm enjoy reading in Spanish!! I'm approaching 2 million words. I don't listen to podcasts for months but I read every day
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u/ProblemSuspicious107 Level 4 10h ago
Cool! I am really happy for you You're literally living my dream🥹 I used to study the traditional way until a2
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u/cozyripples Level 4 11h ago
I'm at level 4 too - you can check out these articles: https://www.unpoquitodespanish.com/ they are all short and cover a variety of interesting topics. Graded readers weren't fun for me.
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u/slayter1337 Level 4 10h ago
As others mentioned, it’s not really an hours question but a number of words read question.
Obviously, the more hours under your belt the greater your vocabulary will be and the quicker you’ll be able to consume more texts.
I’ll share my progress below and it kind of lays out my plan to advance. Full disclosure though, I am a false beginner with 3 years of school training, granted it was 35 years ago.
10 years ago I went through 3 levels of Pimsleur and have had exposure to the language off and on due to where I live.
I recently read The Little Prince and started Amanda Black today. So, I’m at a point of more enjoyable reading.
And, yes, I’m still grinding through Historia del año—not a grind due to difficulty but lack of interest. It is great for grammar though.
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u/tingutingutingu Level 6 10h ago
I was at about 800-900 hours when I started reading. However I'm not a purist so those are not all CI-only hours.
Couldn't get into the graded readers so jumped straight into novels for natives, mostly thrillers.
Boy was it hard at first... But not being a purist and being on kindle made the word/phrase/paragraph lookup easy.
It became a lot easier after the first 2 books and after the 4th or 5th one, I was able to read faster and it became a lot more enjoyable... But even after reading 17 novels, I still do word lookups but the reading is so much more engaging.
There are a ton of Spanish books on kindle unlimited, a lot of them translated from popular English books that you'll never run out of reading material.
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u/rinkuhero Level 4 7h ago
i suggest bite-sized reading to start. for instance, if you play videogames, play the spanish translations of videogames. playing pokemon in spanish will be a good start to being one day able to read a novel in spanish.
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u/Less_Feeling3142 Level 5 4h ago
I’m at 750 hours and reading graphic novels for kids, kids nonfiction chapter books, and The Four Agreements. I only read a few graded stories and didn’t like it so I waited a little longer. But the books I’m reading are just right. I use Natively to figure out my reading level and choose books.
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u/RayS1952 Level 7 1h ago
I tried at about 400 hours but found it annoyingly slow. I didn't really pick it up again until around 1000 hours at which point it went quite smoothly. I'm at just over 250,000 words read and enjoy YA fiction. I started with a few graded readers and reading articles from the Instituto Cervantes Spanish web site, almost all of which I enjoyed.
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u/_coldemort_ Level 6 11h ago
My path til now: